Christopher Reeve Quotes

They [Barbara and Dana] knew all too well that one of the worst traits of my personality is perfectionism.
Christopher Reeve

[On being asked ‘How are you today?’] Well, my throat’s a little scratchy, I have an itch on my nose, and my fingernails need cutting. Oh – and I’m paralyzed.
Christopher Reeve

[On being asked whether he liked his wheelchair] I didn’t exactly like it but it was a good thing to legally drink and drive at the same time.
Christopher Reeve

[On being asked by David Letterman how I was doing] I was fine, but I think I broke my neck again driving over all the potholes on my way into the city.
Christopher Reeve

Since the beginning of my new life, I’ve always wanted it to be as normal as possible.
Christopher Reeve

[On being asked ‘How do you keep it together?’] Mostly with duct tape.
Christopher Reeve

There is overwhelming evidence that stress can be linked to hypertension, ulcers, and a compromised immune system. Many researchers agree that some forms of cancer are caused or made worse by repressed anger.
Christopher Reeve

Whenever we don’t feel well we tend to blame it on external causes: the weather, contact with others, the environment, or even something we ate. These may well be contributing factors, but we should acknowledge that the source of many ailments is within ourselves.
Christopher Reeve

If we accept that the mind/body connection can produce harmful effects, then we can assume that the same connection has a healing power as well.
Christopher Reeve

It was relatively easy to tell the doctors that I would refuse amputation; my response was instinctive and probably irrational, driven by my aggressive and competitive personality. It was far more difficult to sit on the porch with my leg propped up on pillows constantly trying to push doubt and negativity out of my mind.
Christopher Reeve

Then I would try yet again to picture my ankle as it used to be and tell myself that it deserved to be whole. I reminded myself that I had always recovered from all kinds of setbacks.
Christopher Reeve

There was even good reason to believe that sooner or later my spinal cord could be repaired and the nightmare of paralysis would be over.
Christopher Reeve

[On his fathers support] Without his encouragement in the early years I don’t know if I would have developed the self-confidence to attempt such a challenging career.
Christopher Reeve

If someone had told me before my injury that you could teach a kid to rid on his own just by talking to him, I would have said that was impossible. Timing is very important…
Christopher Reeve

The experience of feeling like a child gave me a new perspective on being a father. I became acutely aware that virtually everything that parents say and do has a powerful effect on our children, even when we think they’re not paying attention.
Christopher Reeve

I believe that becoming a parent is a gift, even though parenting means taking on an enormous responsibility. It’s a miracle that a child can come into the world and instinctively give us unconditional love. If we can return that kind of love and provide a nurturing environment, the responsibility becomes less challenging.
Christopher Reeve

How can priests be marriage counselors if they’ve never been married?
Christopher Reeve

During negotiations with our insurance carrier we discovered the main reason patients are routinely denied even the essentials: only 30 percent fight back. Since 70 percent of their policyholders are easily intimated, there is no upside for compliance. Moral responsibility does not drive the insurance industry. Threatened lawsuits are often necessary to get results.
Christopher Reeve

A million dollar policy purchased in 1970 is worth only about $100,000 today [June 1997]. It is ironic that a policy meant to give customers peace of mind is now being used to force them out of the private insurance market…
Christopher Reeve

I firmly believe that medical research is the key to eliminating disease, reducing human suffering and lowering health care costs…
Christopher Reeve

It is hard to sympathize with insurance companies when you watch a mother in tears, begging for a chair so that her quadriplegic son can take a shower…
Christopher Reeve

Research will keep the American people healthier, resulting in fewer insurance claims.
Christopher Reeve

If your young child or grandchild suddenly became paralyzed because of a spinal cord injury, or brain damaged in an accident, would you be able to look him or her in the eye and say that research on the best hope for recovery is, in the words of Senator Brownback, ‘illegal, immoral and unnecessary?’
Christopher Reeve

I can understand the moral dilemma of destroying fertilized embryos for research. But to insist that an unfertilized egg – which is actually just a cluster of cells – should have the same standing and be entitled to the same protections as a human being is beyond my comprehension.
Christopher Reeve

Any powerful new technology comes with the potential for abuse. But when we decide that the benefit to society is worth the risk, we take every possible precaution and go forward.
Christopher Reeve

When I started out as a patient advocate, I thought the major obstacles to achieving a cure for spinal cord injury would be a lack of funding and a shortage of scientists willing to dedicate their careers to an orphan condition. As it turned out, those would not be the problems… Instead the main obstacle is the controversy over embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning.
Christopher Reeve

I have to emerge from the dreams in which I’m completely healthy and able to do anything and adjust to the reality of paralysis.
Christopher Reeve

Through education, we can change people’s minds, even reverse the positions of powerful political opponents.
Christopher Reeve

[On being able to move his index finger five years after his paraplegic accident] At least it’s good for a party trick.
Christopher Reeve

[On Dr John MacDonald seeing him move his index finger] I don’t think he would have been more astonished if I had just walked on water.
Christopher Reeve

After a few moments of concentration I silently ordered my thumb to move. It did. First there was a flicker, and then with repetition the movement became increasingly obvious.
Christopher Reeve

[On being able to lift his wrist] Because there had been no medical intervention, Dr McDonald put forward the theory that the new movements were the result of regular physical exercise.
Christopher Reeve

The most impressive movement, according to John [Dr John McDonald] was a demonstration of sphincter control – no normally something I would brag about, but extremely significant in my condition because the enervation comes from the lowest segment of the spinal cord. If you can contract the sphincter on command it positively proves that there are intact, functioning pathaways all the way from the brain to the bottom of the cord.
Christopher Reeve

I had just scored a major upset in the world of science and medicine.
Christopher Reeve

My body and mind were well accustomed to somebody else moving my arm for me. Now we were attempting to harness strength, habit, and willpower to move it on my own.
Christopher Reeve